Entries tagged with: FastYears

While Savoir Adore are still kickin', finishing up Album #2, singer Deidre Munro has been performing solo as well which has now turned into a band, Deidre & the Dark. Not that far off from the widescreen electropop that her other band performs, you can check out a couple cuts from last year's Curious Parcel EP below, along with a a couple music videos. One of the songs below, "Classic Girl," will be released as a 7" later this year.

You can catch Deidre & the Dark tonight (7/25) at Glasslands for what they're dubbing a "Summer Seance" with Fast Years, The Living Kills and Lorna Dune. Ouiji boards may be involved. Flyer for the show is below.

Meanwhile, Savoir Adore play Santos on Thursday, August 2, opening for Haim and Pop Etc.

Even though the fire that broke out on the deck at the South Street Seaport Mall was certainly the most memorable act of the day, the Village Voice 4Knots Festival was a fine time at South Street Seaport, loaded with good performances amid the smoke and oppressive humidity. There was a big crowd for this second year of the fest, much bigger than last year, and though there wasn't a headliner the size of, say, Steve Malkmus or M.I.A. or Spoon (like they had at Siren in years past), that seemed by design in these post-Drake years. I like every band that played the main stage.

Well, I don't know anything about the first two bands who played the main stage -- The Smiling Lies and Fast Years -- who played before I got there at 1PM and seemed to be on by contractual obligation. Nick Waterhouse made a good, friendly primer for the day with his vintage, baritone sax-fueled '60s soul and R&B, looking dapper in a white oxford shirt that had to have been hot on stage. I prefer him in a tiny sweaty club to a big outdoor fest (I can say that about most bands) but he had the sweaty part down.

Bleached were up next and while we've yet to get an album from these girls, the crowd seemed to know most of their set of hook-laden poppy, punky, curled-lip songs. Hospitality were up next -- almost exactly a year ago they played to about 60 people at the Fulton Stall Market across the street from the Seaport, and they've come a long way since. Most of the crowd was bobbing along to much of their Merge debut... at least till the fire cut their set short.

After the smoke cleared it was Crocodiles whose new album Endless Flowers finds them branching out of strict JAMC love into brighter, poppier corners. They were probably the most animated band of the day with Brandon Welchez definitely playing up the rock frontman gig to the hilt. Crocodiles also inspired the only crowd surfing I saw on Saturday (but I might have missed some).

Speaking of animated, The Drums were up next. Once known for their Bring It On as an indie rock band, tambourine-tossing fabulousness, they are now a real live rock band with little in the way of backing tracks. While I think their most recent album was pretty good, and they sounded tight, they are a little on the subdued side live these days, or at least have been the last two times I've seen them. I think I liked them better live when they mostly pretended to play their instruments.

I was wondering if a lot of the crowd might leave after The Drums' set but, nope, everyone stuck around for recently-reformed '90s indie rock royalty Archers of Loaf. I'll admit I was never the biggest fan -- that was my college roommate, who seemed to get mail-order daily from TeenBeet, Merge and Simple Machines while I scoured import racks for Ride and Blur EPs -- but I certainly absorbed a lot through osmosis and the hit-filled set ("Web in Front," "Wrong," "Plumb") was even recognizable to this casual Archers listener. My friend Chris, a giant Archers fan, dubbed their performance "awesome."

Meanwhile on the Skipper's stage, we got mischievous Montreal band Doldrums, the twangy retro rock of Devin, punk-ish rockers Team Spirit (featuring Ayad of Passion Pit) and Delicate Steve whose set was also cut short due to the fire. And the afterparty went down in Beekman Beer Garden where things got wild during Black Lips' set.

The Bushwick Walkabout Festival, now in its second year, is this weekend with two nights of shows at Brooklyn Fireproof (119 Ingraham Street). Make sure and score some of the free Sixpoint beer at the venue all night while you catch Friday night's line-up (7/13) of Beast Make Bomb, Town Hall, Team Spirit, Slam Donahue, Viva Mayday, Shapes, Fast Years, Cavallo, and Penrose.

Saturday's line-up (7/14) features Xylos, Raves and Chimes, Pre War, The Yes Way, Lean Hounds, The Loom, Hollis Brown, Courtesy Tier, The Lost Revival, The Aviation Orange, The Glorious Veins, and The Skins. Tickets are still available in two-day pass and single night incarnations.

Speaking of New Moods, they've got a Northside show coming up with a pretty stacked local bill of Zambri, Ice Choir (featuring TPOBPAH's Kurt Feldman), and Fast Years at Spike Hill on June 15. Tickets for that show are on sale.

More pictures from the Mercury Lounge show and some videos from the Bowery Ballroom show below...